UNITED KINGDOM

Heavy snow blanketed French skies on Wednesday resulting in fresh traffic disruptions for European travelers after last week’s transport shutdown even as storm lashed Portugal and Spain.

U.K. lender Standard Chartered Plc sees double digit pretax profit growth for 2010 at its consumer and wholesale banking segments, and that it is tracking towards a strong performance in the full year.

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange quickly built a cyber army that shut down the websites of the world's two biggest credit card companies using simple tools posted on the Internet.

Advocates of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange quickly built a cyber army that took down MasterCard Inc's website using simple tools posted on the Web.

Corrects day of week in third paragraphBOSTON - Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange quickly built a cyber army that shut down the websites of the world's two biggest credit card companies using simple tools posted on the Internet.

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is defending the beleaguered Bank of England (BoE) governor Mervyn King, who has come under fire in recent weeks for allegedly having a lack of political neutrality.

From keeping the WikiLeaks site alive to helping British anti-austerity protesters outmaneuver riot police, Twitter is entering the Western political mainstream as a powerful tool for dissent.

Major-economy government bonds fell further on Wednesday, extending Tuesday's sharp losses and driving 10-year US Treasury yields above 3.20%, causing liquidation in commodity markets including Gold and Silver.

A war is now raging in Europe. On one side are the forces of the corporate state led by Germany and France; on the other are the forces of free-market capitalism led by Britain.

Phillip Hughes has emerged as the most likely replacement for Australia's injured opener Simon Katich for the third Ashes test at Perth after the 22 year-old received the backing of his skipper Ricky Ponting.

McDonald's Corp reported a smaller-than-expected rise in global sales at established restaurants in November as demand was weaker than anticipated in its key domestic market and Japan.

Hackers have crashed the website of credit card firm MasterCard in apparent retaliation for its blocking of donations to the Wikileaks website, the BBC and other media reported on Wednesday.

UK factory orders continued to rise in December and the manufacturers expect the output growth to be robust in the next three months due to strengthening demand at home and abroad.

Chinese students in Shanghai emerge at the top in international student assessment tests against Western peers, according to a PISA study.

Scandal-prone supermodel Naomi Campbell was among the twelve leading figures of the British Fashion industry honored at the 2010 British Fashion Awards held on Tuesday at the prestigious Savoy Hotel and Theatre in London. The Special Recognition Award was presented to Naomi Campbell.

Ford Motor Company and Azure Dynamics have begun shipping the first Ford Transit Connect Electrics to early customers in North America and to the United Kingdom for a demonstration project.

The electric propulsion system of Nissan's all-electric car Leaf has been named among the 10 best engines for 2011 by Ward's AutoWorld magazine.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd blamed the United States over the leaked diplomatic cables and maintained that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange 'is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release'.

British building and support services firm Carillion Plc expects annual revenue to be lower than last year's $5.4 billion pounds, citing the reduction in UK construction, the sale of non-core business and equity investments in Public Private Partnership projects.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group is in talks to join a bid by China's Bright Food Group Co for U.S. healthcare products seller GNC Holdings Inc, a person who is familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

On an interview today with CNBC, famed investor and hedge fund manager Jim Rogers said some European countries should be allowed to go bankrupt so that they can restructure their debt without hurting other parties.